Hanzhong Campaign

Part of the wars at the end of the Han dynasty

Date	217-219
Location	Hanzhong, Shaanxi, China
Result	Liu Bei victory; Liu Bei takes control of Hanzhong

Belligerents

Liu Bei

Cao Cao

Commanders and leaders

Liu Bei

Cao Cao,
Xiahou Yuan †

Hanzhong Campaign

Traditional Chinese

漢中之戰

Simplified Chinese

汉中之战

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Hànzhōng Zhī Zhàn

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Hànzhōng Zhī Zhàn

The Hanzhong Campaign was a military campaign launched by the warlord Liu Bei to seize control of the commandery of Hanzhong from his rival Cao Cao. The campaign took place between 217 and 219 during the prelude to the Three Kingdoms period. Although Cao Cao's forces had settled in Hanzhong three years prior after the Battle of Yangping, they were worn out by an overall Fabian strategy employed by Liu Bei's forces, who used targeted attacks to capture strategic locations from the enemy. One of these attacks resulted in the death of Xiahou Yuan, one of Cao Cao's top generals, delivering a huge block to the morale of Cao Cao's forces. Due to logistical and other issues, Cao Cao was eventually forced to abandon Hanzhong and order a retreat. Liu Bei emerged victorious in the campaign and occupied Hanzhong in 219, after which he declared himself "King of Hanzhong" in autumn of that year.

In 215, Cao Cao attacked the warlord Zhang Lu in Hanzhong commandery, defeating the latter at the Battle of Yangping. Zhang Lu surrendered and Hanzhong came under Cao Cao's control.

On Liu Bei's side, he had also recently seized control of Yi Province (covering present-day Sichuan and Chongqing) from Liu Zhang, and was in the midst of a dispute with his ally Sun Quan over Jing Province (covering present-day Hubei and Hunan). Liu Bei felt threatened when he received news that Hanzhong had fallen to Cao Cao, because Hanzhong was the northern "gateway" into Yi Province, and he was now in danger of losing his home base to Cao Cao. Hence, Liu Bei came to a border treaty with Sun Quan, who had seized Changsha (長沙), Guiyang (桂陽), and Lingling (零陵) from him. Liu Bei asked Sun Quan to divert Cao Cao's attention by attacking Hefei and demanded Lingling back. In return, he recognised Sun Quan's control over Jing Province's commanderies of Changsha, Jiangxia (江夏) and Guiyang.

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